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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Rweikiza v Director of Public Prosecutions [2008] EWHC 386 (Admin) (30 January 2008) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2008/386.html Cite as: [2008] EWHC 386 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand London WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
and
MR JUSTICE WALKER
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GILBERT RWEIKIZA | Claimant | |
v | ||
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS | Defendant |
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WordWave International Limited
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(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Mr H Ewing (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
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Crown Copyright ©
(ii) At the said police station the appellant was lawfully required to provide 2 specimens of breath for analysis by means of a device of a type approved by the Secretary of State, namely an Intoxilyser 6000.
(iii) (a) The Intoxilyser 6000 machine is designed to measure the amount of alcohol in breath. It does this by measuring a minimum volume of breath (1.2 litres) and by continuing to measure the level of alcohol in breath until the reading reaches a plateau. At this point it has a complete specimen.
(b) This has the effect that a reading of what is referred to as 'deep lung air' should be taken. This is a more reliable guide to the level of alcohol in someone's breath as mouth alcohol is more variable over time and may be much higher or lower than the total amount of alcohol in someone's breath.
(c)If the requirements of the machine are not met, then the device will still analyse the samples provided but the printout will be marked "Specimen Incomplete "
(iv) The appellant blew into the Intoxilyser. The results were as follows:
Time | Duration | Volume | Breath Alcohol |
4.35 | 1.0 secs | 0.2 litres of breath | 37 micrograms of alcohol per hundred millilitres of breath |
4.36 | 2.0 secs | 0.6 litres of breath | 39 micrograms of alcohol per hundred millilitres of breath |
4.37 | 2.3 secs | 0.7 litres of breath | 36 micrograms of alcohol per hundred millilitres of breath |
4.37 | 0.6 secs | 0.2 litres of breath | 27 micrograms of alcohol per hundred millilitres of breath |
The print-out also showed the words 'specimen incomplete.'
(v) The results accurately showed the amount of alcohol in the samples which were exhaled into the device.
(vi)(a) The words 'incomplete specimen' means that the requirements of the Intoxilyser machine had not been met.
(b) The Appellant had been properly instructed in how to blow into the machine and this had also been demonstrated to him. The Appellant deliberately did not comply with these instructions.
(c) The Appellant chose not to co-operate but to deliberately frustrate the objectives of the breath test."
"(i) Could a reasonable Bench on the evidence adduced in that case have held that the appellant had failed to provide two specimens of breath for analysis?
(ii) Was it Wednesbury unreasonable to have held that the appellant had failed to provide 2 specimens of breath, when he had provided 4 specimens of breath, all of which had been accurately analysed?
(iii) Does the meaning of 'breath' as defined in the case of Zafar v DPP have any effect on the meaning of 'specimen' as defined by section 11(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988?"
On behalf of the appellant, Mr Ley submits that the appeal to the Crown Court ought to have been successful. The foundation of his submission is Zafar v Director of Public Prosecutions [2004] EWHC 2468 (Admin). In that case this court concluded that the word "breath" in section 5 of the Act embraces both deep lung air and breath exhaled simply from the mouth. That authority has, to my knowledge, been followed in many cases and Mr Ley, for the purposes of the present case, accepts its correctness. He, nevertheless, submits that it provides him with a platform for his argument in this case, to the effect that the appellant had provided a specimen of breath for a breath test, which satisfied the demands of the statute, even if it was not provided in a way which enabled the device to produce an analysis of the kind that it was intended to produce. He says that the device in this case was plainly designed to analyse deep lung air. However, on the basis of Zafar that is not necessary, and, as I have recorded, the magistrates found as a fact in the present case that the samples provided, and the results obtained, showed the amount of alcohol that was actually exhaled into the device.
It is necessary, at this stage, to set out the relevant statutory provisions. Section 5(1) states:
"If a person-
drives or attempts to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, or
is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place,
after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit he is guilty of an offence."
"In the course of an investigation into whether a person has committed an offence under section 4 or 5 of this Act a constable may, subject to the following provisions of this section and section 9 of this Act, require him-
to provide two specimens of breath for analysis by means of a device of a type approved by the Secretary of State, or
to provide a specimen of blood or urine for a laboratory test."
By section 7(6) a person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide a specimen when required to do so, in pursuance of section 7, is guilty of an offence. Section 11(3) then provides:
"A person does not provide a specimen of breath for a breast test or for analysis unless the specimen-
(a) is sufficient to enable the test or the analysis to be carried out, and;
(b)is provided in such a way as to enable the objective of the test or analysis to be satisfactorily achieved."
In reality this case is concerned with the proper construction of section 11(3). Section 11(3) has been considered on previous occasions by this court. In DDP v Heywood [1998] RTR 1 Lord Bingham of Cornhill, then Lord Chief Justice, said:
"The simple question therefore arises: did the defendant fail to provide a specimen of breath for the purposes of section 6(4) of the Act of 1988. [that being in the same terms as section 7(6)]. The answer to that question depends on the application of section 11(3). Rephrased, therefore, the question is: did the defendant provide a specimen of breath which was sufficient to enable the test to be carried out and which was provided in such a way as to enable the objective of the test to be satisfactorily achieved? To that question there is, in my judgment, only one possible answer, which is 'No'. The objective of the test was to establish reliably whether a sample of the defendant's breath was or was not positive when tested for alcohol. The defendant gave a specimen in such a quantity or in such a way that it could not be established reliably whether a sample of her breath was or was not positive when tested for alcohol. The specimen she gave enabled a reading to be obtained, but the reading might or might not be reliable. It was reliable if it was positive, but not reliable if it was negative."
"Secondly, it is clear from the certificates to which I have referred that the machine itself recorded that there was an insufficient specimen. It seems to me, therefore, reading section 11(3) and asking myself the question: had a specimen of breath been provided in accordance with it?, the answer is plainly 'No'. The respondent did not provide a specimen for the analysis to be carried out, and he did not provide it in such a way that the analysis could be satisfactorily achieved. There were two reasons: first, the respondent did not provide a specimen of breath as directed; and secondly, the machine itself made it clear that the amount of air produced was insufficient for its purposes."
Thomas LJ then addressed Mr Ley's reliance on Zafar. He rejected it in these terms at paragraph 15:
"In my view, the magistrates' finding that the machine was set up to require deep lung air, and their view that he was not required to provide deep lung air, is wholly irrelevant. The question was: was the breath to be provided, taking the ordinary definition of that word as set out in Zafar, sufficient for the purposes set out in section 11(3)? In my view the answer is plainly "No".
MR EWING: I do not immediately recollect--
MR LEY: No, my Lord, they both occupied one day. The Magistrates' Court would start earlier. Unless I am mistaken, they were both one-day trials.
LORD JUSTICE MAURICE KAY: It might have been higher because of pre-trial costs. Usually they are higher than pre-appeal costs.
MR LEY: That is right. The Magistrates' Court's costs will be far higher than the Crown Court's costs. All the preparation will have been done by the solicitors.
LORD JUSTICE MAURICE KAY: It means, for example, the expert would be the same one as before the magistrates, but he had to attend to give evidence.
MR LEY: At least they did not have to pay for a second report.